The Doctor Trap

Synopsis

This is an abridged reading of a BBC Books novel featuring the Doctor and Donna (as played by David Tennant and Catherine Tate in the hit BBC One TV series). Sebastiene was human...once. He might look like a nineteenth-century nobleman, but in truth he is a ruthless hunter. He likes nothing more than luring difficult opposition to a planet, then hunting them down for sport. And now he's caught them all - from Zargregs to Moogs, and even the odd Eternal. In fact, Sebastiene is after only one more prize. For this trophy, he knows he is going to need help. He's brought together the finest hunters in the universe to play the most dangerous game for the deadliest quarry of them all. They are hunting for the last of the Time Lords - the Doctor! This title is written by Simon Messingham.

Now this was a confusing listen. My main problem was that there are a number of moments throughout this release where I don't see how we get from A to B, which was rather distracting. Plus, there is a kind of doppelganger-plot weaved into the story, which was fairly hard to follow on audio. Since I haven't read the novel, I don't know whether the plot was originally written and constructed like this or whether the issue lies in the abridged nature of the audiobook version. I'm suspecting the latter, because the ending is brilliant, drawing all the different narrative strands into a satisfying conclusion. Unfortunately this was too little, too late for me, but it does show that there are some great ideas hidden in the confusion. So The Doctor Trap might actually be a good read in its unabridged version, but the audio edit is quite clunky. You get one scene stacked on top of the next, but the whole thing doesn't flow very well and the pacing is way off.
Simon Messingham doesn't really manage to evoke the spirit of this TARDIS team and a lot of the dialogue between 10/Donna feels rather awkward. Also, I didn't like how Donna was sidelined for a large chunk of the story. She isn't present for most of the first half and doesn't get much chance to shine in the second, which is a shame for such a strong character.
Russel Tovey doesn't capture the Doctor and Donna at all, which (again) didn't help my enjoyment of the story. That said, the rest of his narration was very good. He has got a pleasant reading voice and his take on Sebastiene was excellent.
One of the weakest Tenth Doctor releases, although it might work better unabridged and as a printed book. As an audiobook however, this really wasn't for me.